Hunting

When I was 8 years old we moved from west of the Ordnance Plant to ¼ section of pasture with some great mature shelterbelts on Hwy. 11 between Cairo & Centura. I would hunt with relatives every chance I got, but I also hunted alone on our new place.

Just like it was yesterday, I can still hear Todd tell me that if I sat real still at the base of a bush near the driveway I’d be able to get a sparrow. So, I sat there as they moved our furniture in the new house. Sure enough, a flock landed in the branches in minutes and my old trusty Daisy smartly dropped one to the ground as a puff of feathers floated off in the breeze. At that moment, I was convinced we were moving into the Garden of Eden!

We had a lot of hogs and the spilled ground corn and 20 hog sheds provided perfect food and shelter for sparrows. I was really greedy when I was a kid, and when my dad said he’d give me a dime a sparrow, that was all I needed to hear. He claimed they spread disease to the hogs. But I supposed it had more to do with getting me to spend time outside of the house with my BB gun. He had a charge account at the hardware store, so I could charge BBs and later 22ca. cartridges whenever I wanted. He never said a word about me charging to his account till I started throwing in candy with my ammo purchases. Then he only told me, I’d have to pay for the candy myself from now on. He never hesitated to pay-up for the sparrows I got, except a few times when my pay would be over $2 on a good day. I’m sure he knows now that it was cheap tuition for lessons that I’ll never forget.

Besides sparrows, we had cottontail rabbits so thick you wouldn’t believe it! I shot a zillion of them, but never put a dent in the population. I got to where I could clean a rabbit in no time flat. And mom never complained about having to cook all those rabbits.

My first ‘real’ gun dad insisted I buy myself, I was 11 when he sold me a H&H break-action single shot DU greenwing 20 ga. with some gold inlay in the lettering. And not long after that my parents gave me a new pump 22ca.

I took Hunter Education in the basement of the Cairo bank when I was 12 with all my friends and some great instructors that I would later teach with. I clearly remember my first duck off the Platte, my first pheasant and dove hunting with my dad around Dannevirke. My first Deer I got with a new Remington 243 ca. pump Duke gave me for my 14th birthday. I got it on Lucile’s river ground that my parents bought 11 years later. I can still point out the tree I was leaning against when it came by. I enjoyed all of the hunting Central Nebraska offered. But as I got older my interest faded and I pretty much quit for nearly 15 years.

As our kids got older (see the Shooting blog to see how it started with BB guns for them) I got back into it and now we go whenever we can. Our youngest never turns down the chance to hunt and our oldest has had a lot of success in the field. Our daughter and the wife haven’t hunted but they like to shoot targets. Our oldest went rifle deer hunting with me last year on the loup and even though he didn’t get a chance to shoot, he was eager to get out again this last season. This year proved to be better, he got a buck on the 2nd day. Our 11 yr old got to go for the first time this last season since Nebraska lowered the age to 10 from 12 to try to get more kids hunting and bring the deer population back under control. He had a youth permit with two tags and filled them both on the first weekend. It took me 4 days to get one. Ha!

They both have bagged a Turkey during shotgun season and since the 11 yr old has more time to hunt he’s harvested squirrels, pheasants, and chuckers. They’ve both spent some beautiful mornings in duck blinds but are still waiting for their first waterfowl.

Our 11 yr old has gone before, but this month was the first time I joined him and my dad at Bunker Hill east of Hastings. Our 12 yr old went shopping with my mom while the three of us hunted. Bunker Hill releases birds, but if you haven’t hunted a place like this I’m here to tell you it’s far more challenging than you might think. I visualized it as standing over a box of birds and shooting as they fly out. Ha! Not hardly, they release the birds and later give you a vague description of where at in their the vast fields. I can testify that they release more than are harvested thanks in part to my poor marksmanship. Places like Bunker Hill have far longer seasons, can harvest both sexes and have no bag limit. They are also an excellent place to work your upland dog. Hunters still need to be licensed and follow all the other hunting laws. Bunker Hill has turned a defunct military ammunition plant into excellent habitat for both their birds and other wildlife that share the property. As well as populate surrounding fields with upland game. And bring in hunters dollars to the local economy.